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PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement's Aims & Scope

The history of relations between colleges and universities and their surrounding communities and regions is complex. At times, institutions of higher education and communities exhibit mutually beneficial interactions while at others they have a more contentious coexistence. Recent developments in institutions’ missions and goals as well as teaching pedagogy have led to more conscious efforts to engage regions through a wide range of initiatives. Yet, many of these efforts are not grounded in a model of regional engagement and are not evaluated for their impacts and effectiveness. Furthermore, to the extent that people employ theoretical frameworks and evaluations, this information is often not shared with others.

PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement provides a venue for such sharing. Specifically, PRISM aims to promote a culture of engagement between the university and region through the creation, application, and integration of knowledge. It allows college faculty and administrators and community actors to learn from one another so all can move toward best practices in regional engagement.

Because regional engagement exhibits great variety, PRISM is multi-disciplinary, publishing quality, peer-reviewed research articles, case studies and applied research articles, and reflections across the full range of disciplinary perspectives. Similarly, PRISM welcomes all forms of analysis and methodologies. A purposefully non-exhaustive list of topics that are appropriate for PRISM includes:

  • The pedagogy of service learning
  • Evidence-based strategies for capacity building
  • Poverty and other social issues
  • Creative writing
  • Natural sciences
  • Economic development
  • Music and visual arts
  • Public health
  • P-12 education
  • The physical environment
  • New models and theories of engagement